Considerable effort has been directed in recent years to obtain substances useful in counteracting the consequences of hyperlipidemia, a condition involving elevated cholesterol, phospholipid and/or triglyceride levels in the blood, and of hyperlipoproteinemia, involving an imbalance of the lipoproteins. The most serious condition associated with hyperlipidemia and hyperlipoproteinemia is atherosclerosis, a form of arteriosclerosis characterized by lipid accumulation and thickening of the walls of both medium-sized and large arteries such as the aorta. Their walls are thereby weakened and the elasticity and effective internal size of the arteries decreased. Atherosclerosis, the most common cause of coronary artery disease, is of great medical importance since it tends to occlude those arteries supplying blood to the heart muscles and brain, thereby producing permanent damage to these organs. Such damage may lead to ischemic heart disease, congestive heart failure, life-threatening arrhythmias, senility, or stroke. Involvement of leg arteries may lead to gangrene and loss of the limb. It has been known for more than 100 years that cholesterol is a major component of atherosclerotic lesions or plaques. Investigators have been trying to determine the role of cholesterol in lesion initiation and development and also, most importantly, whether lesion formation can be prevented or reversed and enlargement of lesions be slowed or stopped. The earliest lesions are now known to be fatty streaks, largely of cholesterol, which often progress in stages to plaques containing cellular, fibrous and calcified material in addition to the lipids.
The evidence that hyperlipidemia is one of the factors involved in coronary heart disease is very impressive. A most important study carried out in Framingham, Mass. (Gordon & Verter, 1969) in over 5,000 persons for more than 12 years established a correlation between high concentrations of blood cholesterol and increased risk of heart attack. Although the causes of coronary artery disease are multiple, one of the most constant factors has been the elevated concentration of lipids in the blood plasma. A combined elevation of cholesterol and triglycerides has been shown (Carlson & Bottiger, 1972) to carry the highest risk of coronary heart disease. The majority of patients with ischemic heart disease or peripheral vascular disease were found to have hyperlipoproteinemia, involving very low-density and/or low-density lipoproteins (Lewis et al. 1974).
The reason for most treatment of hyperlipidemia or hyperlipoproteinemia is for arresting, reversing or preventing atherosclerosis. In the past, attempts have been made to lower the levels of cholesterol, phospholipids, and triglycerides in the blood by the oral feeding of various substances which have been generally referred to in the art as hypolipidemic agents or hypocholesteremic adjuvants. Typical of such substances are lecithin, pectin, cottonseed oil, and the mucilaginous substances listed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,148,114. In addition, several synthetic hypolipidemic agents are now available, namely, clofibrate, D-thyroxine, cholestyramine and nicotinic acid [(Levy & Frederickson, Postgraduate Medicine 47, 130 (1970)]. Clofibrate has the undesirable side-effect of causing hypertrophy of the liver in some patients.
The development of agents capable of reducing elevated blood lipids and of favorably altering blood-lipoprotein patterns is considered by medical authorities to be extremely important for the treatment and prevention of atherosclerosis.